An unexpected visitor...

Monday, February 11, 2008

drops in. Unexpected and most UNWELCOME. So last night, I'm sitting here at the computer and knitting on this:
It's the second toddler mitten if you remember. Chad's buddy Sean and his wife Sadie have a son that just turned one. I made them a hat for him ages ago and I guess they loved it to pieces but it no longer fits. They want another, and that made me think of these mittens. So I'm knitting the second one now. They should fit Syler perfectly.

Anywho, back to my story. I'm knitting along and it's almost time for bed, so I'm trying to relax and feel sleepy since I have to be up in FIVE hours. Suddenly I feel something graze my skin. Now, my hair sheds a lot, so I usually assume that's what it is. And I'm wearing a v-neck, so it's entirely possible that it's a hair tickling me. So I lift up the bottom of my shirt and find this:
I know it's hard to see but look in the bottom of the bottle. See that black spider? Yeah. THAT'S what was IN MY SHIRT. I was screaming and freaking out, and Chad's looking at me like WTF? Anyway he did find it on the floor where I had brushed it off me and he caught it in the bottle. FRIGGEN GROSS. I'm assuming it dropped from the ceiling but who knows. Sheesh. I'm still disgusted and my skin crawls when I think about it.

The only ONLY good thing is it is just a little black house spider. OMG if it'd been a Hobo spider, I would have really freaked out. They are at LEAST two or three times that size, and if they bite you get big holes where the skin gets nasty and just like, dies.

So that was really relaxing...NOT.

Either way there hasn't been much other progress. I discovered on my mitten for me, the brown and mint one from the last post, I'm using the wrong size needles and it's too big. So I need to rip and redo in the right size. That's ok though, I didn't get too far, so I'd rather realize it now. I have been knitting on all the other things too at different times. I should finish the mitten tonight, and then I will probably work on the carolina sock. I decided the pair will be for my sister. I owe her big time. And have repeatedly promised socks. They are totally her colors, so they will be hers. I will probably rip out the mitten too since I haven't done that, and rewind the balls or something.

Ok well that's it for my meager update. More when I get something done!

Stalemate?

Friday, February 08, 2008

I have slowed down a bit on my blogging. Mostly because most of my projects I'm working on are at the point where they don't look any different than they did last time I showed them. I do finally have some progress shots though, so here ya go.

First up is my forest canopy which has grown immensely since my last shot of it. I really like how it's going and it's sooooo easy to knit. I've got a few more repeats of the body to go before I hit the border.
Next we have my Marilinda sock. After a day of knitting I finished the heel and it's gorgeous. I apologize for the cruddy pic but Chad took it and it was night...
Then I have two new projects to show off. First up is my sock that I'm knitting for the Sock Stash Elimination Campaign. This months "orders" were to knit a sock that was designed by Mama Monkey, in honor of her passing. Anyone who knits a pair of her socks will be put in a drawing and I've donated some roving for the prize. It's not yet dyed so I can't show you, but I'll be doing that soon and it will be up on that blog.

Anyway, this is the Carolina sock, but I've made a few modifications. It didn't look good in the self striping yarn and the purl rows, so I omitted those and did a knit row in it's place. I also changed the knit-3-together to a slip 2 as if to knit-knit 1- pass 2 slipped stitches over. It's neater, since in the original version, the k3tog was hidden a bit by the purl row. I really like how this one is coming out, it's super easy to knit, so it's good knitting when you can't concentrate much. Sorry the picture came out so dark...not sure what happened there.
Lastly I started another pair of Selbuvotter mittens. I couldn't help myself after I picked up a few more colors of the Baby Ull. This is mitten pair NHM #7, but I'm using the cuff, and probably the thumb of NHM #9. I think it's going well so far and I love the colors. I also got more black and a baby blue to match my coat, well both coats actually. I still have the red and white too. Oh, and what's that plastic thing you ask? Why that my dears is a NeedleKeep. I got two of them in sizes 6 and 7 inches from Marelle on etsy. I love them to pieces. I was always too afraid to take my socks or things on dpn's with me anywhere since they could break. These are made from PVC pipe so they are really sturdy and I don't have to worry anymore! Now I can take things and throw them in my sock bag, and they are good to go. I definitely recommend getting them if you are worried about that like I was. One cap is fixed on there permanently and the other cap is attached to it with elastic, and that's what keeps it on the end. The removable end has a charm on it so you know which one to pull on. You can't see it in my pic, but I have a kitty on the right side. Either way, now I want the other sizes, since I also have dpns that are 5 and 8 inches. So I'll be buying two more of them eventually.

I'm spinning still, some lace from bfl. I'm hoping to get a good amount to use for the Juno Regina shawl/stole on Knitty.com. That's the main stuff right now. So I'm off to go feed the kids lunch now. And me, I'm craving some salad with chicken and shredded cheese...yum!

Some stuff.

Monday, February 04, 2008

Couldn't think of a better title.

Annnnyway. I haven't posted in a few so thought I should. I haven't been up to a whole awful lot but I have a few things to share.

I went to knitting group on Saturday, and it was the first time in ten days LITERALLY that I got out of the house. I DID manage to remember to bring my camera. But forgot to take any pictures. Sigh. Maybe next time. It was a blast though. I stayed much longer than I planned and there were so many of us this time! Food, knitting, spinning, and fun conversation. The next one is in two weeks and I cannot wait.

While there I finished spinning the second bobbin of the superwash bfl. Then last night I plied it. I think this is by far my favorite skein of yarn I've spun. It's soft and gorgeous and I'm so in love with it. This is also the thickest I've been able to spin! I thought I'd be stuck spinning lace-weight forever. There are 330 something yards and I'm going to make some socks with it.I've been knitting on other stuff. Mostly socks and my forest canopy. No real visible progress so no other knitting pics.

I will leave you with this picture. I saw these at wally world and thought Nick would loooove them. I got them out and said "Here momma got you some bunny ears, put them on!" and he goes "No, I no put on bunny ears." So I got Alexis to put them on. Love the funny face she's making. And you know of course, now he likes them, since SHE had them on. Lol.

Poetry

Saturday, February 02, 2008

I used to be really big on poetry. I read it constantly and wrote it often. I'm hard pressed to find any of my old stuff these days. It must all be packed up somewhere.

Either way, in participation of the Third Annual Silent Poetry Reading, I leave you with this poem. It was my favorite growing up and I used to have it completely memorized.

Daffodils by William Wordsworth

I wander'd lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of the bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in a sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed --- and gazed --- but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

I'm on a finishing streak!

Thursday, January 31, 2008

That's right, I've been finishing stuff up like a good little knitter.

First off, I finished spinning the rest of the Electric Sheep fiber, and plied it. When I finished I noticed that something was wrong. I figured that somehow I forgot to reverse directions when plying and needed to ply the other way. Nope. I managed to spin each single in opposite directions. Yeah, so I'm still deciding what to do with it. In the meantime I started spinning some superwash bfl from Pigeonroof. I'd like socks this time around.

I also finished the other sock for the sock club, but yet again I can't show you that. And I finished the thumb to my mitten. So I'm excited about that, and want to start another pair. For now I'm focusing on finishing some other stuff. Like these socks I started:
This is the yarn from the Socks that Rock club. And in the pattern they sent. It's hard to see it I know. It's doing a spirally thing with the colors, and the pattern looks bunched up b/c there is lace in there. I really like it though, it's fun to knit.

Today I got my January shipment for the Funky Carolina fiber club. It's five ounces of south african fine roving in the color Confetti. She wrote that she used 12 different colors for this one! It looks like it will spin up awesome.
My brother's hat dried and I got Chad to model it. I think it came out a good size. Bigger than I thought, at least it covers his ears. My brother has lots of hair though, so we'll see how it works for him.Ok then, that's it for now, it's almost bedtime for some cranky kids...